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Yugank Goyal

West Bengal and Kerala are often juxtaposed under a common communist identity in most scholarly and policy discourse. We deconstruct these linkages by looking at election result data in these states in the past five decades. Our observations indicate that (i) the assumed supremacy of communist preference in the two states must be diluted, and (ii) the tendency to put both states in the same political basket must be revisited. Since election data are a direct reflection of the people’s preferences, this paper adds an important contribution to the literature by looking at the demand side of the political market.

The upcoming assembly elections in Bihar are expected to be unprecedented on several counts. Following a miserable defeat of their parties in Lok Sabha 2014 elections, two so-called arch enemies Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar have joined forces, after a 25-year hiatus. Despite this, there is considerable uncertainty in the air. Departing from the usual qualitative claims on who will win, this article studies numbers of previous elections to draw a judgment on the type of representation and political competition Bihar can expect to face in its elections. In some ways, it predicts the nature of the election, rather than the result.

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